This was easily the best showing of UFC on Fox. The pacing of the show was good, Randy Couture was once again on the panel (always a positive), and I thought Brian Stann did a very good job as an analyst. Much better than Jon Jones did last time. Most importantly, the fights were good. While the first event had almost no action and the second event had pretty uninspired action, this one was solid throughout.
The highlight of the night was Belcher-Palhares. For Belcher to beat Palhares decisively is pretty impressive. For him to do it the way he did was remarkable. The second Palharaes had Belcher's leg, I thought the fight was over. Not only did he not tap, he proceeded to stay in that position for nearly the remainder of the fight. Conventional wisdom says it's not smart to fight Palhares on the ground. It's even less smart to do it with your legs in his guard. The fact that Belcher neutralized Palhares in the worst position imaginable was just a display of phenomenal groundwork on his part. Excellent showing from Belcher. A fight with him and Anderson Silva is becoming more and more intriguing (assuming Silva beats Sonnen).
As for the rest of the card, Berry-Johnson was a good fight to open with, as it was pretty much guaranteed to not go the distance. And it went as expected. It was a pretty good fight with a decisive finish. Koscheck-Hendricks was decent. Nothing too exciting, but not terribly boring either. As for the main event, it was pretty much a Nate Diaz showcase. Very impressive victory for him. Apparently he has earned a title shot; which is well deserved, I must say. Unfortunately, it's a ways away, but I'm very much looking forward to it when it happens (as long as it doesn't end in a rematch). All in all, it was a good night of fights. And with the Belcher-Palhares fight (and a little help from Diaz-Miller), I think I can finally start to let go of the fact that they didn't air Guida-Henderson on the first event.
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